In our Employment Horizons publication, we have reflected on some of the key themes impacting multi-national employers in 2023. These include responding to inflationary pressures and the cost of living crisis, remote and...more
Last year the UK government promised to introduce a statutory Code of Practice setting out the standards employers should observe if they are considering dismissing and re-engaging staff as a way of changing employee terms...more
In Hilaire v Luton Borough Council, the UK EAT found that it was not a reasonable adjustment simply to slot a disabled employee into a new organisational structure as part of a redundancy exercise. Although this would have...more
The UK government recently announced its support for two more Private Members’ Bills. These will give employees additional protection against redundancy if they are pregnant or returning from family-related leave and a new...more
In separate developments, the UK government announced two potentially significant changes for employers. The Retained EU Law (Revocation and Reform) Bill could mean that at least some EU-derived employment law will expire on...more
There were a surprising number of employment-related developments in the UK over the traditional summer holiday period. We highlight new employment status guidance, government support for neonatal care leave and fair...more
The Court of Appeal in England and Wales decided that an employer was entitled to dismiss and offer to re-engage employees on new terms in order to remove pay protection it had originally referred to as “permanent”. The...more
The Court of Appeal in England and Wales has confirmed that in a wrongful dismissal claim, damages can reflect the least burdensome way of terminating an employment contract. In Mackenzie v AA Ltd, this meant that even if the...more
Dismissing an employee for long term sickness absence could be discrimination arising from a disability if an employer cannot show that the dismissal is objectively justified. The recent UK EAT decision in Department for Work...more
In INEOS Infrastructure Grangemouth Ltd v Jones, the EAT in Scotland found that it was an unlawful inducement relating to collective bargaining for an employer to make a unilateral pay award to employees after pay...more
The long-awaited Employment Bill is no closer to being put before Parliament, after there was no mention of it in the Queen’s Speech. However, in a separate announcement, the UK government has said that it will extend the...more
Difficult employment issues can arise during an international business purchase and what is straightforward in one country can prove challenging in another...more
Overturning a decision of the EAT, in Mercer v Alternative Future Group Ltd the Court of Appeal for England and Wales found that private sector workers are not protected against being subjected to a detriment by their...more
In Kocur v Angard Staffing Solutions Ltd, the Court of Appeal for England and Wales confirmed that agency workers have a right to be informed about vacancies in a hirer, not a right to apply for them on the same terms as...more
In Smith v Pimlico Plumbers Ltd the Court of Appeal for England and Wales allowed a worker to carry forward statutory holiday he had accrued during the course of his employment, which he had taken but not been paid for, until...more
The High Court of Justice for England and Wales has prevented an employer from dismissing employees and offering to re-engage them on new terms. As the employer was seeking to remove a right to enhanced pay that it had...more
An English employment tribunal decided that it was fair for an employer to dismiss a care home worker when she refused to be vaccinated against COVID-19. However, employers should not assume that the decision means that it...more
In Chell v Tarmac Cement and Lime Ltd, the Court of Appeal of England and Wales confirmed that an employer was not vicariously liable when a workplace prank carried out by one of its employees injured another person working...more
When the UK government announced its national disability strategy in July, it promised to consult on whether to make disability reporting mandatory for employers with 250 or more employees. The consultation paper has now been...more
In Walsh v Network Rail Infrastructure Ltd the UK EAT found that an employee had not agreed to an extension to the normal three month time frame for deciding flexible working requests when he agreed to attend an appeal...more
Using “fire and rehire” as a way to implement changes to terms and conditions of employment has become increasingly controversial in the UK in recent years. In October the government blocked legislation that would have made...more
The UK Supreme Court found in Kostal UK Ltd v Dunkley that it was an unlawful inducement for an employer to offer a pay deal to employees “over the head” of its recognised trade union. However, the position would have been...more
In Stuart Delivery Ltd v Augustine, the UK Court of Appeal confirmed that a courier who could offer a time slot he had signed up to cover to other couriers was still obliged to perform work personally. This meant that he was...more
In the government’s response to the carer’s leave consultation it confirms that it will introduce five days’ unpaid carer’s leave per year for employees. This will be a day one right that employees can take on a flexible...more
The UK government published a consultation paper on making flexible working the default. Possible changes to the current framework include removing the service requirement for making a request, allowing more than one request...more